With one week to go, we hit our stretch goal! Thank you all so much.
Songs of the Faithless and Nebraska Murder Box are coming along really well. Both are super fulfilling and I am excited to get them to you.
Hey! We hit our goal on the first day! I’m very excited and humbled by your support. It really means a lot to me.
It looks like stretch goal #1 (read more below) is well within reach. That means everyone, regardless of your pledge tier, will get an additional digital album. Once that milestone is hit, I’ll post stretch goal #2.
For many years I toured around the mid Atlantic playing Paranormal Modern Folk (songs about ghosts, monsters, and steampunk) at sci-fi conventions and other hip venues. I released a number of albums and met a ton of interesting, like minded people. Our family moved to Sacramento a few years ago and since then, I haven’t gone back to play in the region.
And then! I was offered the Musical Guest of Honor slot at MarsCon 2020 in Williamsburg, Virginia. I happily accepted and then turned my attention to creating a new album to release at the Con.
As I started assembling the songs I noticed that some of them, when you squint, started to tell a single story. I did some rewriting, took notes on a potential through-line and realized, yeah, this is kind of a musical.
More editing! I cut songs that didn’t fit, turn others into duets, wrote a couple more to address plot points. Then wrote a script with dialogue and narration, recruited some musician and actor friends and, yep, turns out it is a full-cast epic fantasy audio-drama musical.
Songs of the Faithless: an epic fantasy musical: spoiler free log line.
When a cult sets an apocalyptic plan in motion, a non-believer sets out on a journey to thwart their plan and confront an inevitable evil.
A cast of 11 singing and speaking actors tell this story through dialogue and songs.
So, who are the guest folks on this album?
Nicole Berry – Sacramento actress.
Danny Birt – Notorious filker, music therapist.
Jenny Hendricks – Nerdy musician / teacher / vocalist with Dimensional Riffs.
Jonah Knight – Creepy musician / writer / producer of this thing, vocalist.
Mikey Mason – Geek Rock musician, vocalist and project artist.
Errin Mixon – Singer / voice actor.
Chuck Parker – Plays bass and carries heavy things for The Blibbering Humdingers.
Madison “Metricula” Roberts – singer / songwriter clown of nerdy repute.
Bert Schmid – Father / geek / receiver / occasionally picks up an instrument / tabletop role-player.
Scott Vaughan – Vocalist / guitarist / songwriter with The Blibbering Humdingers, eccentric genius, does some stuff.
Kirsten Vaughan – Vocalist / songwriter with The Blibbering Humdingers, sings a lot of harmonies, does creative stuff.
What instruments can you expect? The full band basics of guitars (acoustic and electric), drums, bass, vocals and whatever surprising magical choices Scott and Chuck pull out. Some quiet stuff, some loud stuff, some optimistic stuff, some creepy stuff. No profanity, but there is some violence and I may or may not record naked.
The album is well underway. The foundations of the songs have been recorded and are currently being passed around to the guest musicians. The script has been completed and distributed. All recording is scheduled to be complete by November 22nd.
Post production. Mixing and mastering will be done by ____, the same studio that Mixed and Mastered my previous album, South Dakota. It looks as though Songs of the Faithless will come close to filling all the space available on a CD. Mixing and mastering 24 tracks/60+ minutes will take more studio time and raise the budget.
This campaign will cover the increased post production cost.
If we hit $1,000, everyone will also get a bonus digital album, Nebraska Murder Box (also included in the complete catalog usb).
Nebraska Murder Box contains the original versions of select select songs from Songs of the Faithless (i.e. me singing them with the original lyrics) as well as a few other gems. Songs include: Investigate the Crime Scene, King of Nebraska (new version), I Build Beautiful, Spooky Shit, Yesterday’s Dreams, and more!
The official album release party will be held at MarsCon, January 17-19 2020. Rewards will be distributed for the first time at the con. When I get back home, I’ll mail out the rest.
Songs of the Faithless, right now,has 24 tracks and nearly fills the disc.
If you will be at MarsCon or if you live in greater Sacramento, don’t select the rewards that require shipping. I’ll put the goods in your hands myself.
The USB includes 13 albums:
Officially released albums: Singer/Songfighter, Ghosts Don’t Disappear, The Exploration of Dangerous Places, Nobody Gets The Girl: songs for the novel by James Maxey, Age of Steam: Strange Machines, Another Creepy Christmas, Drunk on Christmas, South Dakota, Songs of the Faithless.
Unreleased Albums: Christmas Lights on Labor Day, Nothing Gets Happened, Idea > Execution, Nebraska Murder Box.
And some writing: the script for Songs of the Faithless, two short steampunk stories, one short story of cats going into space co-written with my son when he was 5yrs old, four short horror film scripts, one lovecraftian comic book script, and five short plays.
What could go wrong? Well, someone could miss a deadline. I’ve tried to diminish the likelihood of this by building in extra time. Someone might drop out, I guess. If that does happen, I would find a replacement.